3551: Show Success Before Asking for Help AND A Warning to Anyone Receiving Advice by Derek Sivers

Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Education, Mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3551: Success comes from results, not just potential. Derek Sivers shares a lesson from the music industry: those who show momentum get better opportunities. He also warns against blindly following advice, as it’s often shaped by personal bias. Instead, gather multiple perspectives and trust your own judgment. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://sivers.org/success-first & https://sivers.org/advice Quotes to ponder: "You have to make your own success first, before you ask the industry for help." "Show that you’re going to be successful without their help. Show that you have momentum." "The problem is taking any one person’s advice too seriously. Ideally, asking advice should be like echolocation." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Optimal Living Daily, show success before asking for help, and beware of advice,
0:08.5	both by Derek Sivers of Sivers, sivere, sivere, and I'm Justin Mollick, and welcome to Optimal Living
0:15.6	Daily or old, one of a few shows where we read articles to you. Today, two articles, both on the shorter side.
0:23.3	So with that, let's get right to them as we optimize your life.
0:30.4	Show success before asking for help by Derek Sivers of Sivers, SIVE.R-S.
0:41.8	I learned this huge life lesson from a secret document.
0:47.6	Music publishers give a cash advance to a songwriter in return for owning half the future income generated from their songs. The publisher is betting that those songs will earn at least as much
0:53.9	as that cash advance. I was working
0:56.5	at Warner Chapel Music Publishing when someone stepped away from her desk. I noticed she had
1:01.6	accidentally left out the private financial statement showing every songwriter we had signed
1:06.7	the amount of their cash advance and how much they had earned. I secretly made a copy for myself,
1:12.6	then put hers back. I noticed a huge difference between two songwriters. One was a great writer,
1:19.6	constantly delivering songs with great hit potential, super professional, and a great collaborator.
1:25.8	She got her deal because one of the managers heard her and believed in her,
1:30.5	but she hadn't had any success yet. Her advance? $15,000. The other writer was horrible. His songs were
1:38.7	really bad metal that would make the worst metal band cringe. They were poorly recorded and terribly performed.
1:46.1	But in the 80s, he had been in a band with a major rock star, so he had a partial songwriting
1:51.2	credit on a song on a record that sold over 12 million copies. His advance? $500,000.
1:59.5	The moral of this story? You have to make your own success first before you ask the
2:05.0	industry for help. Show that you're going to be successful without their help. Show that you
2:10.4	have momentum. If they want to accelerate or amplify your success, they'll have to pay to ride your
2:16.4	train. If you approach them before
	...

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